Howard wins mayor race in Unionville

UNIONVILLE — The race for mayor in Unionville, the smallest village in Orange County, was between two men who didn’t want to run for the job again.

Michael Clifford, 45, the incumbent, said in the beginning of February that he wouldn’t seek a second term. But in the middle of the month he decided to defend his seat after he said he was received a number of calls from villages to run.

His opponent, Martin Howard, 42, is a former mayor of the village who chose not to run in the 2011 election, saying he wanted to spend time with his family.

Clifford cited his accomplishments in securing monies for infrastructure projects from the state and county, as well as working with FEMA securing over $275,000 so far as a result of damage from back-to-back storms in 2011.

Prior to the election Clifford said “I got the village through three hurricanes. They trust me,”

Howard said if elected he would work to transfer money the village receives from a cell phone tower operator from capital to reserve funds and continue to help raise money to utilize the second floor of the Unionville Community Center. He said his record as mayor speaks for itself.

When the 115 votes were tallied, Howard edged Clifford by 15 votes.

Mike Carey

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